Online + Hands-On Airway Practice
Course Description
- Description: Suction Assisted Laryngoscopy Training Program
- Creator: Jim DuCanto MD, Jonathan St George MD,
- Includes: Online + Hands-On Curriculum
- Completion Time: 30-40 minutes
- Certificate available (with site subscription)
One Curriculum. Endless Ways to Learn
Discover the SALAD Technique: Hands-On, Visual, and Actionable Airway Training
The DuCanto SALAD Learning Space is your gateway to mastering suction-assisted laryngoscopy and airway decontamination (SALAD). Designed by Dr. Jim DuCanto, this innovative approach prepares you to manage the soiled airway with confidence and precision.
In this interactive curriculum, we combine instructional posters, practical guides, and self-directed exercises to turn any space—whether it’s a skills lab, sim center, or even a break room—into a high-impact training environment. Each poster is more than a visual: it’s a teaching tool that breaks down the technique into memorable steps, cues, and key actions.
- ✅ Access online resources for deeper learning and troubleshooting
- ✅ Set up your own SALAD station with simple equipment and our step-by-step guides
- ✅ Posters guide you or others through the critical maneuvers
- ✅ Practice at your own pace, or lead others: perfect for instructors or teams
- ✅ Remote coaching available with our expert faculty to get personalized guidance
- ✅ Live events for immersive, hands-on training alongside peers and instructors
- ✅ Visit our studio for private, focused sessions tailored to your learning goals
Whether you’re learning for the first time or sharpening your skills, this curriculum empowers you to build muscle memory, troubleshoot challenges, and improve airway outcomes—on your terms, in your space.
Meet the Creator
Dr. Jim DuCanto, master educator and creator of the SALAD technique, will teach you how to overcome one of the most feared challenges in airway management: massive airway contamination. When vomit, blood, or secretions are actively filling the oropharynx during the peri-intubation period, life sucks—literally and figuratively. Before you panic or abandon your video laryngoscope, learn how a well-designed rigid suction catheter, combined with a few key skills integrated into your laryngoscopy technique, can transform the situation. With the right tools and training, you can stay in control, maintain visualization, and achieve airway success—even in the messiest scenarios.
James DuCanto, MD, is an anaesthesiologist, master educator, and innovator dedicated to improving airway management. He invented the SALAD (Suction-Assisted Laryngoscopy and Airway Decontamination) simulator and the SSCOR DuCanto Catheter.
Overview
The SALAD technique has revolutionized airway management in contaminated airways by integrating large-bore suctioning with laryngoscopy to improve intubation success and patient outcomes. Developed by Dr. Jim DuCanto, this method reduces aspiration risk, enhances visualization, and increases first-pass intubation success. It is now widely adopted in prehospital, emergency, anesthesia, and critical care settings as an essential skill in managing airway contamination crises.
Start the Course, Visit the Posters
A Visual Gateway to Deeper Learning
introduction
Revolutionize your approach to massive airway contamination with Jim DuCanto and the SALAD Technique
a salad story
The story of SALAD and how it can benefit your ability to handle a touch airway situation.
the core salad skills
A simple device, an ingenious set of skills, a game changer. Learn how.
the “saga” continues
Good airway decontamination skills are not just for endotracheal tube placement.
Set-Up Guide
Pop-Up Training Resources
Build Your Own Training Lab
Turn any space into a hands-on airway training zone. Grab our posters and your gear, and follow a few simple steps.
What’s Next
Congratulations on completing this learning space! You could stop here, but why would you want to? Look for more Situationally Difficult Airway (SDA) learning spaces and add another bundle of concepts, tools, and skills your airway tool box 🧰
The Collaborators
Jim Ducanto MD
Dr. Jim DuCanto is a tireless educator and innovator. This includes the invention of a specialized rigid suction catheter (the “SSCOR DuCanto Suction Catheter”), techniques for managing the massively soiled airway (the “SALAD Technique”), and a simulator designed to demonstrate and practice the SALAD technique (the Nasco Life/form® S.A.L.A.D. Simulator). SALAD Creator & Inventor
Chris Root MD
Chris Root is an emergency medicine attending and flight physician in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He first became passionate about airway management while working as a New York City paramedic for nearly a decade. His interests include prehospital airway management, airway management during cardiac arrest, team dynamics during resuscitation, and, most importantly, breakfast burritos.
Jess Boyle, BS, NRP, FP-C, CCP-C
Jess serves as a director of a suburban EMS service and Clinical Assistant Professor of Health Science at Stony Brook University with experience as a critical care paramedic in adult, pediatric, and neonatal patients, as well as a flight paramedic. He continues to educate physicians, advanced practice providers, nurses, and other medical professionals for several large medical institutions in the New York metropolitan area.
Jonathan St. George MD
A physician educator and innovator. He is the director of the Protected Airway Collaborative and the creative force behind its uniquely immersive and interactive learning style. He has 15+ years of experience developing novel learning delivery systems in medical education and is an assistant professor in emergency medicine at Weill Cornell with extensive clinical experience in urban, rural, academic, community, international, virtual, and disaster response medicine.
You must be logged in to post a comment.